3 Key Stats on the Qur'an: 1-Minute Case

Including CHARTS

Sep 04, 2024

Muslims believe the Qur’an is the uncreated word of Allah, in pure Arabic. Unlike a Christian view of the inspiration of the Bible where God inspires human authorship, it is believed that the Quran was dictated word-for-word by Allah. Does the data validate this position?

1. Not so Arabic

Jalal-ud-din Al-Suyuti, (c. 1445-1505 AD) in Itqan fi Ulum al-Qur'an “Perfection in the Qur'anic Sciences” ch. 38 lists 275 non-Arabic words in the Qur'an.

2. Highly inconsistent usage of the word “Allah”

Meccan surahs precede the Medinan surahs (chronologically, not as ordered in the Qur’an). Dr. Bernie Power, notes over thirty of the earliest surahs never use “Allah” as the name of God. By contrast, Allah is mentioned nearly every second verse or 2652 times in the final 67 surahs. Does this indicate development within the text?

3. Formulaic Density approaching 50%

Scholars largely hold a formulaic density of over 20% indicates formulaic borrowing, where a speaker incorporates existing legends, stories, or narratives into oral communication. In An Oral-Formulaic Study of the Qur'an, Islamic scholar Dr. Andy Bannister identifies “an overall formulaic density for the entire text of between 23.55% and 52.18% depending upon the parameters configured for the computer analysis tool (p.163)”. 99 surahs have a density of 20% or higher, 69 of 40% or higher, 45 of 50% or higher and 14 have a density of 60% or higher. One (61) has a density of 77% or more. The Medinan surahs have a substantially higher formulaic density than the Meccan surahs. Bannister also notes performance variance where identical stories (eg. Iblis and Adam repeated 7x, Annunciation of Mary) are told differently, indicating they were likely said as part of an oral performance.

Could this explain why the Qur’an contains narratives found in earlier legends such as the Queen of Sheba lifting her dress in Solomon’s palace, Solomon’s talking bird, Mary miraculously being provided food, Jesus creating clay birds, Jesus talking in his cradle, the sleepers in the cave, a leader like Alexander the Great who builds a giant wall between two mountains, and more?

Charts

Use of the word “Allah” by chronologically ordered surah

Using resources from, quranicanalysis.com (searching for الله) and tanzil.net, I put together the following charts on the word use of Allah in the Qur'an ordered by chronological surah.

Detailed chart:

High level chart

Dr. Bernie Power’s diagram (note: views on exact chronological ordering differ slightly between scholars although it is agreed as a principle Meccan surahs came before Medinan surahs)